The forest resources of Puerto Rico

Birdsey, Richard A.; Weaver, Peter L.

doi:10.2737/so-rb-85

Cited by 72 publications

(51 citation statements)

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“…Reportedly, forest recovery rate peaked between 1959 and 1974 as a result of maximum agricultural abandonment (Rudel et al 2000), but this trend seems to have slowed (Kennaway and Helmer 2007) or even reversed at some scales (Thomlinson and Rivera 2000 citing unpublished data). Given the critical ecosystem services secondary forests provide in Puerto Rico (Brandeis et al 2007), this knowledge is a cause for concern and calls for development of land use plans that direct the concentration of urban development.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Socioeconomic changes in the island during the past 50 years have resulted in dramatic and dynamic landscape transformations (Birdsey and Weaver 1982;Rivera and Aide 1998;Pascarella et al 2000;Lopez et al 2001;Chinea 2002;Helmer et al 2002Helmer et al , 2008Grau et al 2003;Helmer 2004;Lugo and Helmer 2004;Martinuzzi et al 2007). Widespread abandonment of agriculture has led to expansion of secondary forest from less than 10% of the island area in the 1930s to about 42% in 1991.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forest recovery in a tropical landscape: what is the relative importance of biophysical, socioeconomic, and landscape variables?

et al. 2009

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Socioeconomic changes in many areas in the tropics have led to increasing urbanization, abandonment of agriculture, and forest re-growth. Although these patterns are well documented, few studies have examined the drivers leading to landscape-level forest recovery and the resulting spatial structure of secondary forests. Land cover transitions from agricultural lands to secondary forest in the island of Puerto Rico have been ongoing since the 1940s. This study is a glimpse into this landscape level trend from 1991 to 2000. First, we relied on Landsat images to characterize changes in the landscape structure for forest, urban, and agricultural land classes. We found that although forest cover has increased in this period, forest has become increasingly fragmented while the area of urban cover has spread faster and become more clustered. Second, we used logistic regression to assess the relationship between the transition to forest and 21 biophysical, socioeconomic, and landscape variables. We found that the percentage of forest cover within a 100 m radius of a point, distance to primary roads and nature reserves, slope, and aspect are the most important predictors of forest recovery. The resulting model predicts the spatial pattern of forest recovery with

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest recovery in a tropical landscape: what is the relative importance of biophysical, socioeconomic, and landscape variables?

et al. 2009

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“…This inventory had the primary objective of assessing the timber production potential of the island's forests (Birdsey and Weaver, 1982). The plots were systematically spaced across the island on a 3 × 3 km grid design (900 ha per square).…”

Section: Plot Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Deforestation in Puerto Rico was rapid during the 19 th century, with deforested area peaking in the middle of the 20th century, as sugarcane became the dominant cash crop (Franco et al, 1997). Forest cover reached a low of 6% in the late 1940s and then rose to 32% of the island's area by 1990 (Birdsey and Weaver, 1982), with total forest area increasing from 279,000 hectares in 1980 to 287,000 hectares in 1990 (Franco et al, 1997) and reaching 510,157 ha in 2003 (Brandeis et al, 2007). As a result of these historical processes, the present day Puerto Rican landscape is a fragmented, dynamic mosaic of shifting land uses (Grau et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diameter growth performance of tree functional groups in Puerto Rican secondary tropical forests

2014

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Aim of study: Understanding the factors that control tree growth in successional stands is particularly important for quantifying the carbon sequestration potential and timber yield of secondary tropical forests. Understanding the factors that control tree growth in successional stands is particularly important for quantifying the carbon sequestration potential and timber yield of secondary tropical forests. Yet, the high species diversity of mixed tropical forests, including many uncommon species, hinders the development of species-specific diameter growth models.Area of study: In these analyses, we grouped 82 species from secondary forests distributed across 93 permanent plots on the island of Puerto Rico.Material and Methods: Species were classified according to regeneration strategy and adult height into six functional groups. This classification allowed us to develop a robust diameter growth model using growth data collected from 1980-1990. We used mixed linear model regression to analyze tree diameter growth as a function of individual tree characteristics, stand structure, functional group and site factors.Main results: The proportion of variance in diameter growth explained by the model was 15.1%, ranging from 7.9 to 21.7%. Diameter at breast height, stem density and functional group were the most important predictors of tree growth in Puerto Rican secondary forest. Site factors such as soil and topography failed to predict diameter growth.

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“…As most human populations have been historically concentrated on the coastal plains in the Greater and Lesser Antilles, lowland forests of all types have been • Zon andSparhawk (1923), b FAO (1975), c Ehrlich et al (1985), d Perera Puga and Rosabal Gonzalez (1986), 'Martinez (1990), 'Anon. (1987), sBirdsey andWeaver (1987), h FAO (1991), 'Chalmers (1990).…”

Section: Characteristics Of Caribbean Forestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future prospects for Nearctic migrants wintering in Caribbean forests

Wunderle

Waide

1994

Bird Conservation International

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SummaryWintering Nearctic migrants constitute a high proportion of the birds present in many terrestrial habitats in the Bahamas and Greater Antilles, but their proportions decline southward through the Lesser Antilles. Many migrants winter on densely populated islands which have been extensively deforested. Current estimates show that only 21% of the land area, or approximately five million hectares, remain in forest on Caribbean and Bahamian islands, indicating that most of the major deforestation has already occurred. Although reforestation is under way on a few islands, many remnant forest fragments are threatened by humans or natural disturbances such as drought or hurricanes. Thus wintering migrants requiring closed-canopy forest are at greatest risk to habitat loss, whereas species requiring early successional habitats are not currently threatened, assuming that pesticide use does not increase. Policies which protect forests, particularly mangroves, wet limestone and montane broadleaf forests in the Greater Antilles, and broadleaf scrub ("coppice") in the Bahamas, will be beneficial to migrants and endemic species.Las aves migratorias nearticas invernantes constituyen una alta proporcion de las aves presentes en numerosos habitats terrestres de lasBahamas y de las Antillas Mayores, pero sus proporciones disminuyen hacia el sur a traves de las Antillas Menores. Muchos migrantes invernan en islas densamente pobladas que han sido deforestadas extensivamente. Estimas actuates muestran que solo el 21% del area terrestre, o aproximadamente cinco millones de hectareas, permanecen arboladas en las islas del Caribe y las Bahamas, indicando que la mayor parte de la deforestation ya ha ocurrido. Aun cuando cierta reforestaci6n se esta Uevando a cabo en unas pocas islas, los fragmentos restantes de bosque estan amenazados por el hombre o por disturbios naturales tales como huracanes o sequias. Por lo tanto, las aves migratorias que requieren bosque con un dosel cerrado estan en mayor riesgo de perder su habitat, mientras que las especies que requieren etapas tempranas de sucesion no estan amenazadas en el presente, asumiendo que el uso de pesticidas no aumente. Las politicas publicas que protejan los bosques, particularmente manglares, bosques latifolios montanos y bosques humedos de piedra caliza en las Antillas Mayores, y matorral latifolio ("coppice") en las Bahamas seran beneficiosas para las aves migratorias y residentes por igual.

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The forest resources of Puerto Rico

Cited by 72 publications

References 0 publications

Forest recovery in a tropical landscape: what is the relative importance of biophysical, socioeconomic, and landscape variables?

Forest recovery in a tropical landscape: what is the relative importance of biophysical, socioeconomic, and landscape variables?

Diameter growth performance of tree functional groups in Puerto Rican secondary tropical forests

Future prospects for Nearctic migrants wintering in Caribbean forests

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